Scarlet Minivet

Description:

Common breeding resident of open forest and other wooded areas throughout the country while much common in hills. It lives in pairs or family parties. Scarlet Minivet feeds on caterpillars, crickets and other insects among foliage and follows one another from one tree to other in 'follow my-leader' fashion. It breeds in February-May and again from August to September. The nest is a small cup in the canopy well camouflaged with lichens, flakes of bark etc and composed with lichens bound together with cobweb and lined with dead-leaf midribs, etc.

Habitat:

small forest area adjoining paddy fields

Notes:

this is a male, 3rd photo shows it eating a papilionid butterfly pupa